Chapter Summaries

Qing Chen proposed selling military supplies to rival Western Regions countries and stoking their mutual fears to create a lucrative arms race. He then showed the Carefree Spirit Venerable and Dugu Yifang an underground market on the Chuyun Kingdom border, where Hua Tieshou and Sun Wudi were present.

• Qing Chen mapped a trade route through the Western Regions and argued that rival countries could absorb the Northwestern Circuit’s goods.
• Qing Chen explained how military sales and rumors of neighboring countries’ preparations could escalate existing border conflicts.
• Dugu Yifang recognized that Qing Chen intended to profit by selling fear and fueling an arms race.
• The Carefree Spirit Venerable questioned whether Qing Chen could control the Western Regions’ trade and resources.
• Qing Chen displayed a vast underground market on the Chuyun Kingdom border, where Hua Tieshou and Sun Wudi sat in a purple-gold demonwood hall.

Qing Chen revealed plans to use trade with the Ten Thousand Saints Demon Kingdom to enrich and strengthen the Northwestern Circuit, despite the trade involving prohibited war supplies. He recruited the Blood God Sect and the Dugu Household to provide goods, business networks, and force, declaring that their corruption would be on a grand scale.

• Qing Chen showed Dugu Yifang and Carefree Spirit Venerable records of Sun Wudi and Hua Tieshou arranging trade with the Ten Thousand Saints Demon Kingdom through Wei Yixiao and the Juejing Merchant Alliance.
• Qing Chen explained that the trade would bring valuable Demon Kingdom resources into Great Jin and generate profits for the northwest, while Dugu Yifang accused him of aiding the enemy.
• Qing Chen defended the scheme by claiming that the war was outside his jurisdiction and that the Northwestern Circuit would benefit from both sides continuing to fight.
• Carefree Spirit Venerable asked why Qing Chen had approached them, and Qing Chen said he needed the Blood God Sect's and Dugu Household's supplies, networks, and power to control the trade routes.
• Qing Chen revealed that Wei Yixiao had not actually placed the claimed five-hundred-million-Spirit-Stone order, then urged Dugu Yifang and Carefree Spirit Venerable to pursue corruption on a grand scale for the northwest.

Months after the battle at Yanmen Pass, Qing Chen’s authority as Northwestern Circuit-Surveying Governor reshaped the region and won recognition from the Western kingdoms and the Immortal Dynasty. He set aside his administrative duties to focus on cultivation, taking out the Nine-Luminaries Glazed Vidyaraja Pagoda.

• The Heavenly Gang True Lord Ranking placed Dugu Yifang eleventh and reported that Qing Chen had shattered his Nine-Kill Domain using the Northwestern Circuit-Surveying Seal.
• The Blood God Sect and Dugu Household accepted Qing Chen’s decrees, registered their holdings, and paid the assessed taxes as the Northwestern Circuit began consolidating its affairs.
• Qing Chen’s power and prestige drew envoys from Western kingdoms, while the Black Fox King Tribe withdrew toward Yanmen Pass and Tie Hengjiang petitioned the Immortal Dynasty to recognize Qing Chen’s achievements.
• Qing Chen entrusted military and administrative matters to Xu Jiuling, Xin Bairen, the Guanyin Tower Master, Jia Daoyi, Su Zixuan, and others, then entered a spatial domain to cultivate.
• Qing Chen reflected that borrowed power could secure his position but could not replace his own cultivation, and he took out the Nine-Luminaries Glazed Vidyaraja Pagoda.

Qing Chen entered the seventh layer of the Seven Luminaries Trial to face Arhat Fengchi again, now far stronger than when he had lost to him before. He gained the upper hand in their renewed duel and trapped Fengchi’s movements, but the battle remained unresolved.

• Qing Chen cleared the first six layers of the Seven Luminaries Trial and entered the seventh layer to settle his old defeat by Arhat Fengchi.
• Qing Chen assessed Fengchi’s increased strength and brought forth the Blood River God-Slaying Spear.
• Arhat Fengchi launched a sudden saber strike, but Qing Chen blocked it and sent him flying with a counterattack.
• Qing Chen combined his escape techniques, Lawless Devil Aspect, and spear attacks to pressure Fengchi.
• Qing Chen unleashed the Mystic Womb Lawless Blood-Magnetism Prison-Suppressing Domain, slowing Fengchi and predicting where he would move next.

Qing Chen gained the upper hand against Arhat Fengchi with the Blood River God-Slaying Spear and Primordial Magnetism, but Fengchi unleashed Eight Winds of Wuxiang and began cutting him apart. The fight remained unresolved as Fengchi taunted Qing Chen from an indistinct position within the wind.

• Qing Chen used the Blood River God-Slaying Spear and Primordial Magnetism to overpower Arhat Fengchi in their repeated clashes.
• Arhat Fengchi tried to seize the spear with Dragon-Locking Unrestrained Heavenly Eagle Claw, but Qing Chen reversed its magnetic forces and broke his grip.
• Qing Chen struck Fengchi in the chest, pursued him, and wounded him with a spear thrust beneath his ribs.
• Arhat Fengchi transformed into formless wind and unleashed Eight Winds of Wuxiang, filling Qing Chen's pseudo-domain with rapid saber attacks.
• Arhat Fengchi's saber light inflicted more than a dozen wounds on Qing Chen, while the lingering Wind-Path Rules hindered his healing.

Qing Chen unveiled the Mysterious-Feminine Nine-Pole Blood Prison, turning his pseudo-domain into a trap that controlled Arhat Fengchi’s movements and strengthened its attacks with his blood. After recognizing the technique’s domain-level sophistication, Arhat Fengchi was caught in its contracting force and struck by lightning within his body.

• Arhat Fengchi’s saber attack missed Qing Chen, who then collapsed his Blood-Magnetism Pseudo-Domain instead of conceding.
• Qing Chen used nine Lawless Blood Seals, magnetic lightning, and the Blood River God-Slaying Spear to form the Mysterious-Feminine Nine-Pole Blood Prison.
• Arhat Fengchi’s Formless Wind Body could not escape the prison’s shifting attraction and repulsion, and Qing Chen repeatedly wounded him with the spear and lightning.
• Arhat Fengchi recognized that Qing Chen’s pseudo-domain used a Spirit Venerable-level method of operating a domain.
• Qing Chen contracted the Nine-Pole Blood Prison and struck Arhat Fengchi’s Sea of Consciousness, causing lightning and blood flames to erupt inside his body.

Qing Chen defeated Arhat Fengchi on the seventh layer of the Nine-Luminaries Glazed Vidyaraja Pagoda, then entered the eighth layer and encountered Jingyun Arhat in a vast Cloud Realm. The new trial began as Qing Chen sensed that the realm’s shifting clouds formed a domain prototype.

• Qing Chen shattered Arhat Fengchi’s Wind-Path Rules Threads and killed him with the Nine Extremes Blood Prison.
• The seventh-layer trial ended, and the pagoda restored Qing Chen’s injuries and spent strength before revealing the gate to the eighth layer.
• Qing Chen considered Arhat Fengchi’s warning, prepared himself, and stepped through the gate.
• Qing Chen entered a vast sea of clouds that dulled his divine sense and made the Mystic Womb Demon Lotus sense danger.
• Jingyun Arhat appeared atop a cloud peak, and Qing Chen recognized him.

Qing Chen faced Jingyun Arhat, whose six Cloud Path rules threads let him unleash a Cloud-Realm-spanning palm that overwhelmed Qing Chen’s strength. Qing Chen summoned the Sky-Patrolling Dao Seal to resist, and a hidden surge of military formation power began to reinforce it as the seal sank beneath Jingyun Arhat’s attack.

• Jingyun Arhat suppressed the Cloud Realm’s qi and revealed half-step Primordial Spirit cultivation with six Cloud Path rules threads.
• Jingyun Arhat used the Innate Five Qi Cloud-Repelling Palm to seal Qing Chen in place and crush him beneath a vast five-colored cloud palm.
• Qing Chen summoned the Lawless Devil Aspect and the Sky-Patrolling Dao Seal, then sent the seal to meet Jingyun Arhat’s attack.
• Jingyun Arhat’s palm began forcing down the seal, crushing its fortune flood dragons and driving Qing Chen into the sea of clouds.
• A war drum sounded within the seal, illuminating regional map patterns and sending a greatly strengthened torrent of military formation power into it.

Qing Chen used the military force of more than a million Dao Soldiers to activate the Northwestern Circuit-Surveying Seal during the eighth trial. The pagoda gave Jingyun Arhat a matching-grade Buddhist treasure, but it could not match the fortune domain Qing Chen had summoned, and Jingyun challenged whether Qing Chen deserved power.

• Xin Bairen commanded more than a million Dao Soldiers to channel their military force through formations into the Nine-Luminaries Glazed Vidyaraja Pagoda.
• Qing Chen used the gathered force to fully activate the Northwestern Circuit-Surveying Seal, which unfurled an embryonic fortune domain and disrupted Jingyun Arhat's Five-Colored Cloud Palm.
• The pagoda bestowed the Five-Direction Five-Colored Cloud Seal on Jingyun Arhat, but Qing Chen realized it was only a supreme-grade Magic Treasure without a rules domain.
• Qing Chen laughed at his successful gamble and taunted Jingyun, claiming his use of the Dao Seal was his own ability.
• Jingyun Arhat called Qing Chen a cheat and asked whether someone like him deserved to wield power.

Qing Chen's use of outside military formation power triggered the Nine-Luminaries Glazed Vidyaraja Pagoda to review its trial rules. The pagoda allowed the current trial to stand under the principle that the law was not retroactive, and Qing Chen resumed his battle with Jingyun Arhat.

• Jingyun Arhat prepared to activate the Five-Direction Five-Colored Cloud Seal as Qing Chen braced for the pagoda to punish him.
• The Nine-Luminaries Glazed Vidyaraja Pagoda shook, and its mechanical voice identified Qing Chen's use of external military formation power as a loophole.
• The pagoda ruled that Qing Chen's method had not violated the rules in place before the trial, but barred similar external reinforcement in future trials.
• Jingyun Arhat regained control and summoned six cloud path rules threads, using the Five-Direction Five-Colored Cloud Seal to approach a first-tribulation domain prototype.
• Qing Chen rejected Jingyun Arhat's criticism of relying on external power, and the two fought for an entire day before Qing Chen emerged from seclusion and rewarded the participating Dao Soldiers.

Consort Nian explained to Ji Chengjing why she had arranged for him to leave the Divine Capital and take up his fief in the dangerous northwest. She warned that the northwest was safer than the capital or Central Southern Circuit, where his rivals could kill him, leaving him to question whether anyone would dare.

• Ji Chengjing asked Consort Nian why she had sent him to the northwest instead of letting him remain nearer the Divine Capital.
• Ji Chengjing complained that his new titles gave him little authority and would require him to obey Qing Chen, whom he resented.
• Consort Nian told Ji Chengjing that the capital and Central Southern Circuit were full of his elder brothers' spies and forces, making them more dangerous than the northwest.
• Consort Nian warned Ji Chengjing that someone seeking to kill an imperial prince would not need to act openly, and he asked whether anyone would dare kill him.

Consort Nian warned Ji Chengjing that he was in danger if he pursued the imperial succession and urged him to seek Qing Chen's protection by becoming his disciple. Meanwhile, Qing Chen received delegations from seven Western Regions kingdoms at Yanmen Pass, where rivalries over border oases threatened to shape their negotiations.

• Consort Nian ordered Ji Chengjing to visit the Nian Household and then go to Yanmen Pass to ask Qing Chen to take him as a disciple.
• Ji Chengjing objected that Qing Chen's demonic reputation and his own imperial status made the proposal humiliating, but Consort Nian stressed Qing Chen's power and influence in the northwest.
• Consort Nian warned Ji Chengjing that his twelfth elder brother may not have died by chance in a Demon Calamity and told him to abandon ambitions in the Struggle for the Heirship.
• Consort Nian insisted Ji Chengjing should kneel and offer Qing Chen tea, while warning that Qing Chen might refuse him.
• At Yanmen Pass, Qing Chen sat in the Governor-General's Office as delegations from seven Western Regions kingdoms gathered, with Loulan and Persia secretly probing one another amid their border dispute.

Qing Chen received Altai, Persia’s second prince, and heard Persia’s concerns that Loulan was using its marriage alliance with Great Jin to acquire arms for a possible conflict. Altai pressed Qing Chen to take a clear position as the weapons headed toward the disputed border.

• Qing Chen chose to receive Persia’s delegation before the envoys of the other six Western Regions kingdoms, prompting displeasure among the Loulan envoys.
• Altai greeted Qing Chen both as Persia’s second prince and as a disciple of the Origin-Initial Devil Sect’s Yellow Springs Branch.
• Altai presented Qing Chen with fourth-tier Black Sun Fire Crystals and Primordial Magnetism divine sand from the Persian royal court.
• Altai showed Qing Chen evidence that Loulan had purchased large quantities of armor, weapons, formation plates, talismans, and Restriction-Breaking Thunder Pearls from Great Jin.
• Altai reported that Loulan had sent one hundred thousand Dao soldiers to the shared border and begun restoring formations around three disputed oases, then demanded Qing Chen’s stance.

Qing Chen sold Persia a large shipment of weapons to counter Loulan’s military buildup, while presenting the deal as ordinary trade. He then cleared the hall so Altai could explain the Origin-Initial Devil Sect’s rules before Qing Chen visited its ancestral seat.

• Qing Chen explained that Loulan’s imperial travel permit prevented him from openly blocking its purchases, but offered Altai weapons that could counter them.
• Xu Jiuling gave Altai a prepared list of military goods, and Altai agreed to buy the first shipment for one billion Low-Grade Spirit Stones, with Persian resources accepted as payment.
• Qing Chen and Altai discussed the Black Sun Desert and Loulan’s border before Altai praised Qing Chen’s victory over Dugu Yifang.
• Qing Chen admitted he knew little about Great Black Heaven Mountain’s rules and asked Altai to explain them before his future visit.
• Qing Chen dismissed Xu Jiuling and the attendants, then Altai sent the Persian royal cultivators out of the hall.

Qing Chen questioned Altai about the Origin-Initial Devil Sect and learned how its branches, powerful leaders, and ancient offshoots shaped its standing. After revealing the sect’s history, Qing Chen poured Altai tea and dismissed him so he could return to exploring the Nine-Luminaries Glazed Vidyaraja Pagoda.

• Qing Chen sealed the hall against outside senses and invited Altai to speak freely as a fellow disciple.
• Altai explained that the sect had six branches, with the Other-Transforming Heavenly Devil, Yellow Springs, and Primordial Magnetism branches ranked above the others because their masters were Spirit Transformation Venerables.
• Altai said the next Origin-Initial Heavenly Devil would generally come from among the branch masters or deputy branch masters, and that many sect members considered Qing Chen a strong candidate.
• Altai traced the sect’s founding to the first Origin-Initial Heavenly Devil, who united diverse legacies under separate branches rather than imposing a single cultivation technique.
• Altai revealed that the Blood God Sect and Corpse Devil Sect descended from the Origin-Initial Devil Sect’s former Blood Path and Corpse Devil branches.
• Qing Chen thanked Altai, refilled his tea as a gesture of farewell, and dismissed him so he could explore the Nine-Luminaries Glazed Vidyaraja Pagoda.

Qing Chen completed the Seven-Luminaries Nascent Soul trial and gained the Seven-Luminaries Master authority, transforming the World Inside the Tower into a vast, baleful-energy-rich realm. The chapter ended as the authority’s release shattered an invisible restraint over the world.

• Qing Chen dismissed the waiting Loulan delegation until the next day, then sealed the hall and entered secluded cultivation.
• Qing Chen received six heavenly scrolls after the tower recognized him as its Seven-Luminaries Master.
• Qing Chen’s newly unlocked authority expanded the World Inside the Tower to a hundred thousand li and transformed its four forbidden lands and central region.
• Qing Chen surveyed the world’s population and forces, finding more than five hundred million people and over two hundred thousand body cultivators.
• The invisible restraint that had shrouded the World Inside the Tower shattered when the seven-luminaries authority unlocked.

Lie Feng and Bu Jingyun broke through into the Immortal Realm after the Seven-Luminaries World lifted their cultivation limits, and Qing Chen examined the new authority granted by the tower. He discovered that enlightenment could help advance his blood path, but the estimated cost was three to four billion spirit stones.

• Lie Feng broke through his suppressed bottleneck and formed a blood-colored grotto-heaven, becoming an Immortal Realm body cultivator.
• Bu Jingyun used the Frostcloud Sword to cleave the clouds and became the second Immortal Realm body cultivator.
• Lie Feng and Bu Jingyun thanked Qing Chen, while body cultivators across the four main cities knelt in acknowledgment.
• Qing Chen found that the great void heavenly secrets authority still had zero uses and discovered the new enlightenment authority.
• Qing Chen tested enlightenment for his blood path and learned it could help with his bottlenecks, but would cost three to four billion spirit stones.

Qing Chen reviewed the Nine-Luminaries Glazed Vidyaraja Pagoda’s newly unlocked enlightenment and Dao Protector abilities, weighing their power against their immense costs. He left seclusion intent on expanding arms sales to Loulan and other nations to fund future Blood Path enlightenment.

• Qing Chen learned that Blood Path enlightenment would cost nearly four billion spirit stones, while Magnetic Origin enlightenment cost less and Time Rules enlightenment offered negligible benefit.
• Qing Chen discovered that enlightenment could be used only once every thirty years and worked best for cultivators with deep foundations.
• Qing Chen found that the pagoda could attack once a year, but even a phantom strike would cost five billion low-grade spirit stones and at least five supreme-grade spirit stones.
• Qing Chen considered financing Blood Path enlightenment through military supply deals with Western Regions nations and other potential buyers.
• Xu Jiuling told Qing Chen that Loulan’s delegation was waiting, and Qing Chen agreed to receive them.
• Qing Chen ordered the Transport Commission, the Dugu Household, and the Blood God Sect to increase Loulan’s goods list by thirty percent, including more treasure armor, formation plates, and battle formation treasure ships.

Qing Chen arranged military supplies for Persia and then offered Loulan countermeasures, insisting that neither kingdom would be disadvantaged. Yuchi Mingzhao left with a manifest for Loulan’s own purchases, totaling more than one and a half billion low-grade spirit stones.

• Qing Chen told Xu Jiuling that Persia and Loulan were both friendly nations and that neither should leave Yanmen Pass empty-handed.
• Yuchi Mingzhao arrived and challenged Qing Chen over his meeting with Altai and Loulan’s place in his plans.
• Qing Chen revealed that he had sold Persia a billion spirit stones’ worth of weapons and military equipment to counter Loulan’s purchases.
• Yuchi Mingzhao accused Qing Chen of helping Persia target Loulan, but Qing Chen denied that the sale was aimed at Loulan.
• Qing Chen gave Yuchi Mingzhao a manifest of countermeasures and other supplies for Loulan, priced at over one and a half billion low-grade spirit stones.

Qing Chen used rivalries and fears among the Western Regions kingdoms to sell them enormous quantities of military supplies, securing contracts worth over four and a half billion Low-Grade Spirit Stones. As night fell, he finally summoned the Dayuan delegation, which had been left waiting all day.

• Qing Chen pressured Yuchi Mingzhao into signing Loulan's military procurement order, worth 1.45 billion Low-Grade Spirit Stones, and she declared that she would take him as well.
• Qing Chen persuaded the Qiuci delegation to sign an order worth nearly 800 million Low-Grade Spirit Stones by warning them about Dayuan's cavalry and the other kingdoms' purchases.
• Qing Chen convinced the Chuyun delegation to order more than 800 million Low-Grade Spirit Stones' worth of armor, crossbows, formation discs, and talismans, with payment largely offset by local resources.
• Qing Chen secured a smaller order from Juejing and traded gifts and purchases with Qingqiu's Third Prince, bringing the four kingdoms' contracts to slightly over two billion Low-Grade Spirit Stones.
• Xu Jiuling calculated that contracts from Persia, Loulan, and the four kingdoms exceeded 4.5 billion Low-Grade Spirit Stones, leaving Qing Chen with nearly 1.4 billion in profit.
• After keeping Dayuan's delegation waiting until night, Xu Jiuling told them that Qing Chen would receive them.